Volkswagen says it delivered 564,500 vehicles throughout the world in November, some 5% less than in November 2017.
In Europe, it said the effects of WLTP became less pronounced with VW sales up 1.2%.
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It also said that Brazil continues to drive growth in South America, while the market situation in China ‘remains tense’.
VW said the brand faces a challenging market environment with strong headwinds in some regions. Nevertheless, Volkswagen has delivered 5.7m passenger cars to customers throughout the world in the year to date, 1.2% ahead of the same period last year.
Volkswagen Board Member for Sales Jürgen Stackmann, said: “In view of the difficult conditions we face, Volkswagen is very well-positioned with respect to deliveries. How we bring the year to a close will now depend on December. We still need 530,000 deliveries to match last year’s record. In my opinion, we could succeed and perhaps even record slightly higher deliveries.”
In Europe, Volkswagen said it is making good progress with the changeover of its model portfolio to WLTP. The low point ‘has now been passed and delivery figures are recovering’, it said. While deliveries in September and October were still strongly affected by this issue, the brand was able to increase deliveries by 1.2% in November compared with last year, reaching 143,900 units. It said new models such as Polo, T-Roc and Touareg were significant. From January to November, Volkswagen delivered 1.62m passenger cars to customers in Europe, 4.3% ahead of the corresponding prior-year period.
VW also said that Russia sales are up, with 10,200 units sold in November, a rise of 13.2% on last year. VW said it was ‘thanks to the continuing good performance of the SUVs Touareg and Tiguan as well as the newly launched Polo’.
At 46,700 units, Volkswagen deliveries in North America fell by 8% in November in what VW termed a ‘generally weaker market’. US sales were down by 8%.
In South America, Volkswagen said it remained on track for growth, with 40,200 vehicles delivered to customers in the region last month, a rise of 5.75 on last year. Volkswagen sold 31,500 vehicles in Brazil in November, 19.6% up on last year. In Argentina on the other hand, deliveries by Volkswagen fell by 44.6 percent in November, in line with the development of the overall passenger car market, VW said.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Volkswagen delivered 319,900 vehicles in March, 7.2% down on last year. In China, VW said the effects of the trade dispute with the USA ‘continue to be severe’. The entire economy, VW said, and therefore also the automobile market are faced by strong reluctance to purchase on the part of customers. At 304,700 units, Volkswagen delivered 8% fewer vehicles in China than last year.
In the current year, three new SUVs, the T-Roc, Tharu and Tayron, were presented in China and the best-selling Lavida, CC and Bora returned to the showrooms with a facelift, VW said. In January to November 2018, Volkswagen deliveries in China remained virtually stable compared with the corresponding prior-year period at 2.8m units.
